Just two more days before we're off to India! And I am so ready for it... Particularly because I finally heard last week that I will receive an extension of my scholarship into next year! So that means I am not going to be starving just yet! woohooo, and it's a bigger scholarship than I've been receiving these past years, that's also quite pleasant.
For the rest, it's been lots and lots of working, as always. And a few Indian movies, to get into the mood (if you ever have a chance, Love Story 2050 is a must-see!). Additionally, we have also been out partying a few times of course, among which was a curry-bollywood night at our friend Louisa's place last Saturday... And a (free) concert of the Latvian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra at the Villa Reale last week.
The best concert that we've recently seen, however, was the Roberto Fonseca Group from Cuba, who also performed at the Villa Reale, last Thursday. You've got to love the Milano municipality for organizing lots and lots of stuff during Summer to entertain the few people who are actually in town... During August, however, even the Municipality takes some time off, but in September they are back with a vengeance with another month-long music festival!
Anyways, I'm sure it's gonna be a long time before the next update, because we're off to India!!!! (oh, and I've once again broken my laptop, so that also doesn't quite improve my posting abilities...)
Ciao,
OJ
Monday, July 28, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
pfffffffff
Well, where do I start? I'l go with chronology I guess: that seems like the right way to approach the last month or so.
I had already mentioned my trip to a conference in Tunisia and that it was quite impressive (the country, not the conference). I did not, however, add any photos yet, so here are just a few little impressions:
So, after returning to Italy and finally receiving my luggage, I was off to Turkey. One night in Istanbul, with a friend, and then a bus trip to Ankara, where I attended the 12th Annual Conference on Economics and Security. It was, in fact, my first conference that really concerned the topic that I am working on, which made it a really interesting experience of course. There were some very interesting papers and I received a lot of positive comments about my work. So that was very satisfying. The conference was nice enough to also organize a one-day trip to Cappadocia, which is the Number 30 according to the Hillman Wonders list, so definitely unmissable! And it truly is impressive. An unusual geographical formation, combined with centuries of lost civilizations: pretty impressive! And the underground city was definitely not bad either! Just some photos:
Finally, I returned by bus to Istanbul, from where I flew back to Milano and finally saw Fedor again. Those few days in Milan were very busy though. Two papers had to be finished before the end of July and therefore had to be finished before my next departure, 3 days later. So I worked, worked and worked and managed to complete most of my work. I was also present to enjoy the whooping that Italy gave to France in the Eurocup, so that was kinda nice (although the match really sucked, obviously). Then on the 18th, I flew on Lufthansa (my Air One flight had been cancelled: I wasn't very flight-lucky around this period), via Frankfurt to Boston!
A truly amazing city, combining the big-city American architecture, with lots of parks and open spaces and not all that many people around. I could stay with friends, and enjoyed the city for 3 days, including visits to the graves of some of the Founding Fathers, Little Italy and Harvard, and seeing my Milan ex-flatmate Meghan and celebrating Fernanda's birthday...
After those few days, I travelled to Providence, Rhode Island, in order to attend the IHS's Graduate Workshop on Social Change (also referred to as Libertarian Summer Camp). An unusual experience, I must admit. Never before have I spent much time with lots of self-confessed libertarians, particularly those coming from the fields of Political Theory, philosophy or Philosophical History... And a fair few of the attendees were either serious assholes (ie die-hard libertarians) or simply insane (trust me on that one: don't ask). But there were also a few great people, and I must say that a lot of the lectures I heard were in fact very interesting and thought-provoking. While I do not agree with all of what was being said, I at least found it interesting to experience. And I did have an excellent time with some of the people I met there whom I now consider to be my friends. Among them, the (according to the NY Times) "prolific young liberal author" James Poulos and many others.
After a week of enjoying this (and trust me, not getting a lot of sleep), I was quite ready to go home! I spent one more night in Boston with Max and Jessica (just in time to see Max of to hospital with an acute appendicitis), before flying back to Milano. Just some pictures of my US trip:
Back in Milano, Fedor had some friends over from the Netherlands for that weekend and I enjoyed an afternoon and evening with them, in the sweltering heat that had overcome Milano by then. However, I did have to get up at 4AM the next morning again to fly to Amsterdam, for the Jan Tinbergen Peace Science Conference. I got there just after it had already begun and enjoyed 3 more days of presentations and socialising. However, I must honestly admit that with the lack-of-sleep, the jetlag and the general exhaustion, this conference was not as useful for me as it could have been if I had gone there well-rested. But it was good to see some of the people that I had met before on previous conferences, as well as friends from Groningen. And I did get some positive comments on my paper as well, including interest from an author who works on very similar topics. So I was quite satisfied, overall.
After three days of that, I finally was able to go home and sleeeeeeeeep.
The past week or so has been a little more relaxed. Working, working, working, trying to get some papers finished obviously takes up some time, but it's not too bad. I did have The Phonecall yesterday, which is (partially) going to determine whether or not I am getting a scholarship extension next year. I'm going to hear the result for that next week, so please cross your fingers for me!!!
On the social front, last night was the goodbye dinner for Elena and Lin Lin, who have both graduated and are moving to other Universities (oh, how I wish I was amongst them!!!). And today, we slept late and did nothing: perfect!
Ciao,
OJ
PS 18 days until India!
PPS Click for more photos from Tunisia, Turkey or the United States
I had already mentioned my trip to a conference in Tunisia and that it was quite impressive (the country, not the conference). I did not, however, add any photos yet, so here are just a few little impressions:
So, after returning to Italy and finally receiving my luggage, I was off to Turkey. One night in Istanbul, with a friend, and then a bus trip to Ankara, where I attended the 12th Annual Conference on Economics and Security. It was, in fact, my first conference that really concerned the topic that I am working on, which made it a really interesting experience of course. There were some very interesting papers and I received a lot of positive comments about my work. So that was very satisfying. The conference was nice enough to also organize a one-day trip to Cappadocia, which is the Number 30 according to the Hillman Wonders list, so definitely unmissable! And it truly is impressive. An unusual geographical formation, combined with centuries of lost civilizations: pretty impressive! And the underground city was definitely not bad either! Just some photos:
Finally, I returned by bus to Istanbul, from where I flew back to Milano and finally saw Fedor again. Those few days in Milan were very busy though. Two papers had to be finished before the end of July and therefore had to be finished before my next departure, 3 days later. So I worked, worked and worked and managed to complete most of my work. I was also present to enjoy the whooping that Italy gave to France in the Eurocup, so that was kinda nice (although the match really sucked, obviously). Then on the 18th, I flew on Lufthansa (my Air One flight had been cancelled: I wasn't very flight-lucky around this period), via Frankfurt to Boston!
A truly amazing city, combining the big-city American architecture, with lots of parks and open spaces and not all that many people around. I could stay with friends, and enjoyed the city for 3 days, including visits to the graves of some of the Founding Fathers, Little Italy and Harvard, and seeing my Milan ex-flatmate Meghan and celebrating Fernanda's birthday...
After those few days, I travelled to Providence, Rhode Island, in order to attend the IHS's Graduate Workshop on Social Change (also referred to as Libertarian Summer Camp). An unusual experience, I must admit. Never before have I spent much time with lots of self-confessed libertarians, particularly those coming from the fields of Political Theory, philosophy or Philosophical History... And a fair few of the attendees were either serious assholes (ie die-hard libertarians) or simply insane (trust me on that one: don't ask). But there were also a few great people, and I must say that a lot of the lectures I heard were in fact very interesting and thought-provoking. While I do not agree with all of what was being said, I at least found it interesting to experience. And I did have an excellent time with some of the people I met there whom I now consider to be my friends. Among them, the (according to the NY Times) "prolific young liberal author" James Poulos and many others.
After a week of enjoying this (and trust me, not getting a lot of sleep), I was quite ready to go home! I spent one more night in Boston with Max and Jessica (just in time to see Max of to hospital with an acute appendicitis), before flying back to Milano. Just some pictures of my US trip:
Back in Milano, Fedor had some friends over from the Netherlands for that weekend and I enjoyed an afternoon and evening with them, in the sweltering heat that had overcome Milano by then. However, I did have to get up at 4AM the next morning again to fly to Amsterdam, for the Jan Tinbergen Peace Science Conference. I got there just after it had already begun and enjoyed 3 more days of presentations and socialising. However, I must honestly admit that with the lack-of-sleep, the jetlag and the general exhaustion, this conference was not as useful for me as it could have been if I had gone there well-rested. But it was good to see some of the people that I had met before on previous conferences, as well as friends from Groningen. And I did get some positive comments on my paper as well, including interest from an author who works on very similar topics. So I was quite satisfied, overall.
After three days of that, I finally was able to go home and sleeeeeeeeep.
The past week or so has been a little more relaxed. Working, working, working, trying to get some papers finished obviously takes up some time, but it's not too bad. I did have The Phonecall yesterday, which is (partially) going to determine whether or not I am getting a scholarship extension next year. I'm going to hear the result for that next week, so please cross your fingers for me!!!
On the social front, last night was the goodbye dinner for Elena and Lin Lin, who have both graduated and are moving to other Universities (oh, how I wish I was amongst them!!!). And today, we slept late and did nothing: perfect!
Ciao,
OJ
PS 18 days until India!
PPS Click for more photos from Tunisia, Turkey or the United States
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